Thread: Firm admits hiring illegals

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Firms admit hiring illegals


BY DAN HORN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
The leaders of two temporary labor companies pleaded guilty Tuesday to employing 400 illegal immigrants in southern Ohio.

The companies, Garcia Labor Co. Inc. and Garcia Labor Co. of Ohio, also agreed to forfeit $12 million in cash and property.

Federal prosecutors say company officials routinely overlooked fraudulent identification cards and hired immigrants they should have known were in the country illegally.


Many immigrants hired by the Garcia companies worked as temporary laborers for ABX Air Inc., an air cargo transportation company in Wilmington.

"Virtually every one of the 400 ... workers was using an invalid or fraudulent Social Security account number," prosecutors said in court documents filed Tuesday.

The president of the companies, Maximino Garcia, and his sister, Dominga McCarroll, a former vice president of the companies, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of conspiracy.

Another company official, Gina Luciano, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy.

Each faces up to 10 years in prison and the companies face possible fines of $500,000 or more.

The biggest potential financial penalty is the forfeiture of $12 million that federal prosecutors say represents proceeds from the criminal activity. Authorities are trying to determine how much of the money the companies might be able to pay.

"Part of the investigation is to locate the assets," said Fred Alverson, spokesman for U.S. Attorney Gregory Lockhart.

The companies' lawyers declined comment Tuesday. A spokeswoman for Garcia Labor Co., based in Morristown, Tenn., said the companies would have a statement about the pleas today.

Prosecutors say the companies hired the illegal immigrants from December 1999 to January 2005 and then contracted with other companies, such as ABX Air, to provide temporary workers.

ABX Air terminated its contract with the Garcia companies after the Transportation Security Administration discovered the immigration issues during an inspection last year, prosecutors say.

E-mail dhorn@enquirer.com



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Cincinnati.Com » The Enquirer » Local news » Firms admit hiring illegals

$12 million more for the border fence!

"Virtually every one of the 400 ... workers was using an invalid or fraudulent Social Security account number," prosecutors said in court documents filed Tuesday.

This should give you an idea of what is going on throughout the United States. Yet many pro-illegal immigrant activist keep insisting that most illegal immigrants haven't committed any crime, because looking for a better life is not a crime. Well, that certainly can't explain away the use of fraudulant social security numbers, that is a felony.